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Riolu Line/XY
Riolu can only be found on Route 22, and with a 5% encounter rate, both in regular grass and the yellow flowers. Lucario can be received as a gift Pokémon from Korrina in the Tower of Mastery; it holds a Lucarionite and will always be Hasty. A major MVP of plenty of runs past, and plenty more to come. While unavailable in most games, Lucario is a force to be reckoned with wherever it goes; its incredible movepool and fantastic offensive stats make it immensely versatile in any team. In addition to that, while its defenses are only average, its part-Steel typing offers it a very welcome resistance to many types, some of which are also really common or lacking in counters; Lucario's effective bulk only really falls short with special moves it's weak to, which is really saying something about its power. The Mega Evolution addition has worked fantastically to further strengthen the already amazing qualities it has, even more so because it's the earliest Mega Evolvable Pokémon in the whole game. Catching it as Riolu is, of course, less advantageous in some aspects, but it also has its perks: being a friendship evolution, you have total control over when to evolve it, and with patience enough you could get one as early as before the first gym, by roller skating around to boost its happiness levels; even if you opt to not do so (and yes, it's frankly crazy), with all the walking around there is to do in Kalos, Riolu should naturally evolve long before the second gym, at which point it still wrecks everything in sight, with or without Mega Evolution. Important Matchups * Gym #1 - Viola (Santalune City, Bug-type): Riolu's matchup is just plain bad here, having only Quick Attack in its viable roster. While it does resist Infestation, it's also weak to Gust and the Infestation residual damage per turn will not be lessened, leading to potentially dangerous situations or, in the best case, a lot of wasted heals. Surskit is more manageable than Vivillon, but still not a Pokémon you should attempt to fight with Riolu, unless you're completely out of options. * Professor Sycamore (Lumiose City): * Tierno (Route 5): * Tierno and Trevor (Route 7, tag battle with Serena): * Gym #2 - Grant (Cyllage City, Rock-type): Riolu has a good matchup here, and Lucario's is just plain excellent. You can easily dispose of Amaura with Force Palm no matter which form you're in; however, watch out for Tyrunt's Strong Jaw-boosted Fang moves, as it is probably bulky enough to take one hit and could hurt Riolu back a good deal, especially in the event of a critical hit. Lucario, however, should OHKO both without problems. * Korrina (Geosenge Town, Fighting-type): * Rival (Tower of Mastery): * Gym #3 - Korrina (Shalour City, Fighting-type): Lucario's part-Steel typing gives it a considerable disadvantage against this gym, with the omnipresent Power-Up Punch in the Pokémon's movesets. Mienfoo is frail and could potentially be taken down with one Aerial Ace, but using the same move against Machoke and Hawlucha is dangerous, as they could tank one hit and retaliate with their STAB; while a single Power-Up Punch is unlikely to OHKO Lucario from full health, the Attack boost means the second most definitely will, and if Aerial Ace is not a 2HKO this will be a problem for Lucario. Unless you're desperate, don't use Lucario here. * Rival (Coumarine City): * Gym #4 - Ramos (Coumarine City, Grass-type): If you haven't done it yet, pick up the Poison Jab TM from the Shalour City Pokémon Mart. This is all you will need against Ramos. Gogoat is tougher than the other two, aside from having Bulldoze to hit Lucario with for supereffective damage, so it might be best left to another team member; Weepinbell is neutral to Poison, thus you may opt for Return to deal more damage. * Aliana (Kalos Power Plant): * Gym #5 - Clemont (Lumiose City, Electric-type): * Rival (Route 14): * Gym #6 - Valerie (Laverre City, Fairy-type): * Celosia and Bryony (Poké Ball Factory): * Mable (Frost Cavern): * Rival (Anistar City): * Gym #7 - Olympia (Anistar City, Psychic-type): * Lysandre battle #1 (Lysandre Labs): * Aliana (Lysandre Labs): * Celosia (Lysandre Labs): * Bryony (Lysandre Labs): * Mable (Lysandre Labs): * Xerosic (Lysandre Labs): * Lysandre battle #2 (Team Flare Secret HQ): * Xerneas (Team Flare Secret HQ, X only): * Yveltal (Team Flare Secret HQ, Y only): * Lysandre battle #3 (Team Flare Secret HQ): * Professor Sycamore (Couriway Town): * Shauna (Route 19): * Tierno (Route 19): * Trevor (Route 19): * Gym #8 - Wulfric (Snowbelle City, Ice-type): * Rival (Victory Road): * Elite Four Wikstrom (Pokémon League, Ironworks Chamber, Steel-type): * Elite Four Malva (Pokémon League, Blazing Chamber, Fire-type): * Elite Four Drasna (Pokémon League, Dragonmark Chamber, Dragon-type): * Elite Four Siebold (Pokémon League, Flood Chamber, Water-type): * Champion Diantha (Pokémon League, Radiant Chamber): * Post-Game: Moves Riolu's initial moveset consists of Foresight, Quick Attack, Endure and Counter. It then gets another priority move at level 11, in the form of Feint. While far from stellar or ideal to start off with, it does also learn Force Palm at level 15, which is plentiful STAB for a while longer in the game; it's also probably the last move worth learning before the evolution into Lucario. At level 19, Riolu get Copycat, which is useless, whereas Lucario gets the much more helpful Swords Dance; as its bulk is high for this point in the game, if you already have a Lucario in your ranks, Swords Dance will work well as a setup move, and you might even keep it for a longer time if your Lucario is sturdy enough to take one hit from anything it comes across. Keep in mind, however, that its Speed is good, but not very high; it will be outsped by some Pokémon still. At level 24, Riolu learns Screech, which is in every possible way worse than Swords Dance, and Lucario learns Metal Sound, which might be situationally useful but will generally not be worth keeping. Level 29 carries Reversal for Riolu, which you will hope to never need but can still work well with Endure, and the much more notable Bone Rush for Lucario. However, at this point in the game, you should also have the Dig TM available, meaning that Bone Rush may not be your preferred option, due to its imperfect accuracy and unreliable damage output. Riolu doesn't learn any other moves besides Nasty Plot at 47 and Final Gambit at 50, neither of which you will want, the former because Riolu will never survive as Riolu for that long, and the latter for obvious reasons. Lucario, instead, learns Quick Guard at 33 and then Me First at 37, neither of which is very notable, but it also gets its ex-signature move Aura Sphere at 42, which is nothing short of fantastic: flawless accuracy, high base power, and Adaptability to support the damage, if you decide to go Mega. Calm Mind, at 47, will go well with special sets, possibly even more so than Riolu's way too late Nasty Plot, as Lucario's special bulk also needs to be boosted to survive a good few hits; the useless Heal Pulse at 51 will obviously be ignored in favour of level 55's Close Combat, the most amazing move Lucario gets access to. Close Combat OHKOs everything that's weak to it in Mega form, and a lot of Pokémon that AREN'T weak to it too, and it will also deal incredibly high amounts of damage to those that resist it. The last two moves, Dragon Pulse and ExtremeSpeed, which come respectively at level 60 and 65, may be useful in some sets but not others, depending on your Lucario's nature and stats, and are thus up to personal choice whether kept or not. It should also be noted that Dragon Pulse, Close Combat and Aura Sphere are all moves that Lucario learns at level 1 as well, and as such they are accessible as soon as Dendemille Town, through the Move Reminder. Another move worth of mention that the Move Reminder offers is Metal Claw, which is the only Steel STAB Lucario can learn before the postgame. The TM pool for Lucario is vaster than most Pokémon's, and there are so many options to pick from, for each set. For physically-oriented ones, Bulk Up and Swords Dance (which is also a TM move) are both very good for setup purposes; if you received your Lucario from Korrina, Bulk Up might work better, as its Hasty nature leaves a dent in its Defense. Power-Up Punch is another viable option for the same purpose, although it trades away the Defense boost for damage. Return is available early in the game, and will obviously work great on an already evolved Lucario, though of course the Normal coverage is not so useful later in the game; Dig, instead, does its job very well against Poison-types, which Lucario is a great counter for. Earthquake is obviously better than Dig, though available much later. Rock Slide and Stone Edge both provide Rock-solid options against many other types as well, though their accuracy leaves something to be desired; however, if you're so keen on running them and hitting every single time, especially with Stone Edge, you could opt for Hone Claws over the aforementioned setup moves. Both Shadow Claw and Poison Jab are very good for coverage; the former hits Ghosts and Psychic-types, and the latter gives Lucario a supereffective option against Fairy-types before Dendemille Town. Low Sweep also deserves a mention for being an early game Fighting move, which you might opt for if you're still raising your Riolu at that time and want Fighting STAB on it. Special sets will, of course, benefit greatly from Calm Mind, which should be the go-to setup move. Both Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball are excellent complements for Aura Sphere, and achieve near-perfect coverage when combined with it; there is very little that can resist both. Psychic also works for general coverage purposes, if you need a counter for Fighting-types, though Lucario should hopefully never have to fight any of them. Lastly, Hidden Power might be worth considering for coverage, depending on its type; a Steel-type Hidden Power would actually do great for Lucario, as its only special Steel move - Flash Cannon - is sadly unavailable until the postgame. Recommended movesets: ''Physical: Bulk Up / Swords Dance, Close Combat, Metal Claw, Earthquake / Shadow Claw / Rock Slide'' ''Special: Calm Mind, Aura Sphere, Dragon Pulse, Shadow Ball / Dark Pulse / Hidden Power Steel'' Other Riolu's stats Lucario's stats Mega Lucario's stats * What Nature do I want? If you go with the gift Lucario from the Tower of Mastery, it will always be Hasty, which is an okay nature. If you caught a Riolu yourself, anything that boosts either offensive stat and lowers any defensive stat works very well, with a preference for Attack; the best options are Lonely and Naughty, with Mild and Rash being runner-ups. * What Ability do I want? It doesn't make a big difference, unless your Lucario is really slow. Inner Focus, however, could be useful to prevent Fake Out flinching, and getting rid of enemies faster; still, Steadfast is not that much worse, and if you use Mega Lucario it won't matter either way, as it has Adaptability regardless of its regular ability. * At what point in the game should I be evolved? Whenever possible, of course, as you have full control over friendship evolutions. Having a Lucario before Grant will give you one of the best possible counters for the gym; you will want to evolve it no later than the Korrina fight, however, as Riolu tends to fall heavily short in bulk and power around then. * How good is the Riolu line in a Nuzlocke? Amazing in every possible way. It has a movepool like no other in both physical and special terms, and its early Mega Evolution capability makes it excellent for tackling many opponents, no matter how things turn out. * Weaknesses: Fighting (neutrality if Riolu), Ground (neutrality if Riolu), Fire (neutrality if Riolu) * Resistances: Rock, Bug, Dark, Normal (neutrality if Riolu), Steel (neutrality if Riolu), Grass (neutrality if Riolu), Ice (neutrality if Riolu), Dragon (neutrality if Riolu) * Immunities: Poison (neutrality if Riolu) * Neutralities: Ghost, Water, Electric, Psychic (weakness if Riolu), Flying (weakness if Riolu), Fairy (weakness if Riolu) Category:Fighting-Type Category:Steel-Type Category:Kalos Category:X/Y